Abdurrahman Wahid

Abdurrahman Wahid, (Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil Wahid), (born Sept. 7, 1940, died December 30, 2009), [1]muslim president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001, "gave Indonesia a chance to build religious tolerance, democracy and freedom. ... In only two years, he asserted civilian control over the military, revoked anti-Chinese legislation and encouraged press freedom. Most importantly, he condemned religious violence, argued strongly for a secular state and reached out to democracies around the world—including Israel." [1]

In 1984, as leader of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, which had up to 40 million members, and later as president, he promoted rights of minorities, of non-Muslims and the ethnic Chinese.